CARROLLTON — Alderman and mayor pro-tem Earl “Joe” Harness has been appointed as the city’s new mayor.

The city council made the decision during a special meeting to avoid potential issues over multiple vacancies on the board.

On Oct. 26, the council had a meeting to address vacancies on the council. Because elected mayor David Stendeback died in December, however, there was no one to appoint new aldermen.

Harness, who has served as mayor pro-tem since before Stendeback’s death, was voted into the mayoral position with a unanimous 4-0 vote.

“We had to get something figured out, because if just one member was absent we wouldn’t have a quorum,” said City Clerk Ryan Scott. “The mayor pro-tem does not have the power to appoint aldermen, only the mayor has that authority, so there had to be a change in leadership.”

Once appointed, Harness made three appointments to fill vacancies on the council, the first being his own position as Ward One alderman. Larry Gillingham will fill that position until the April election.

A second aldermanic position for Ward One was left vacant with the death of Francis “Gene” Baker in mid-October. Alber Roth was appointed to fill that position until the May 2019 election

Finally, Alderman Susie Keller vacated her position when she moved out of the ward, though she still lives within the city limits. Joe Montanez was appointed to fill her position until the May 2019 election.

All of these appointments were done with unanimous approval from the council.

“Obviously, we’ve had some differences on the city council on different things in the past,” Scott said. “Everyone realized that we needed to agree and get things done otherwise we might be in a bind from now until April. We needed to work together, because without meeting we wouldn’t be able to pass certain things crucial to keeping the city running.”

The next city council meeting is scheduled for Nov. 10.

Nick Draper can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1223, or on Twitter @nick_draper.